Good interaction design has nothing to do with looks. Some interfaces look dreadful but work great, some look great but are painful to use.
I often have to argue with fellow designers about how pretty or good looking a certain design is. Not only old school designers coming form print design (where I had the same discussions) have the impression that if something looks good, orderly and clean it also works well.

Even going beyond the taste of what looks good I often argue that the looks are a secondary thing and that we have to concentrate on the goal of the project - may it be to convey a message or to perform a task.

Google for example has been the posterchild for not being able to pull of a decent user interface - while the search page is probably one of the best UI decisions ever made.

Designers should remember that visual elements are meant to improve the user experience - looking good is part of that, but if it gets in the way of the goal it's a fail.

I will rest my case with this finding where in a test, the not so good looking vertical list has outperformed the nice grid view. It underlines another point - do test your designs.

About Frank Neulichedl

Hi, I'm Frank Neulichedl. Digital Product Designer, Photographer and Chef. I love to create awesome products with great UX, beautiful UI and modern interactions. Follow me on Twitter, see my pictures on Instagram and don't miss out on the free Brand Personality Questionnaire.